Whale Carcass Washes Onto Waimanalo Beach

Dead whale in Waimanlo.

Those who live near it say the smell is putrid.

Paul Drewes braves the stench.

(KHNL) A dead whale that washed up on a Windward Oahu beach is causing quite a stink.

It's a blob of blubber lying on the beach. So badly decomposed that even experts aren't even sure what kind of whale it used to be. They do know it was a great whale - most likely a humpback or a sperm whale.

One that died several weeks ago before the carcass was partially eaten by sharks and then washed up on shore.

Meanwhile for those on shore , like Jim and Joyce Sweeney , who arrived here to celebrate their wedding anniversary. They can overlook the dead whale and still see the beauty of the beach....that is , as long as the wind is blowing away from them. "It's a little smelly depending on which way the wind blows -- it can be delightful or putrid" says Jim Sweeney.

So what does over five thousand pounds of rotting whale flesh smell like?

" It smells like a million dead dogs - it smells so bad...i've never smelled anything like it" says Wyatt Mikelson , a beach goer.

Surprisingly , not everyone was as repulsed by this rotting carcass on the beach. "It does smell a little bit but not bad....course being from san francisco - it's a normal kind of smell....fish smell" says Jill Sprague , a San Francisco resident visiting here.

But this smell may soon disappear. The Department of Land and Natural Resources will attempt to move the carcass thursday morning. But even the experts are unsure if they'll be able to reach the whale with equipment from the beach. They plan to use a front end loader and dump truck to take away the dead whale. Instead of trying to take it out to sea , because doing so would be even more difficult and damaging to the shallow reefs that surround the carcass.

In making the appointment, the governor was weighing a short-term replacement against pressure from top Democrats in Washington to name someone who would run in 2018 in a special election to complete Franken's term ending in 2020.

In making the appointment, the governor was weighing a short-term replacement against pressure from top Democrats in Washington to name someone who would run in 2018 in a special election to complete Franken's term ending in 2020.